Social call
by schak
Summary: It just should have been a small call in his break, but with Kyoko you should expect the unexpected.
1. Chapter 1

"Contrary to what you and the president think I have a social life apart from Kyoko, thank you very much." Yashiro remembered Ren's sarcastic statement from a couple of days ago, once again. He could nearly hear the with annoyance dripping voice .

"Don't make me laugh. As if...", he mumbled to himself as he walked down the hallways of LME. For once he was alone.

Yashiro returned to Tyoko to negotiate a contract for a new drama. Ren stayed a day longer on set for his latest movie, but he should be in the crew bus on the way back home. A mishit grin stretched over his face, he will be a good manager and do Ren a favor if he wants to or not. He just hung up on Kyoko, who darkly promised to stop at Ren's place to make him dinner once he is back home. Maybe he exaggerated a tiny winy bit how sloppy Ren had been with his food, but who cares? The second favour was a bit trickier and in the end the reason why Ren felt the need to proof his social skills. His had sent an e-mail request to Sawaras and hoped that he would answer before he leaves.

Flashback three days ago

"Hello Mogami-san. How are you?" He said in his rich dark voice into the phone.

"Tsuruga-san? Hello. What can I do for you?", she sounded genuinely surprised to hear his voice.

"That's what I want to ask you. I saw on my phone that you called." He had been on set for twelve days now. That had been twelve days without any contact with her. Appropriately happy had he been, when he saw a missed call from her and with it an excuse to call her.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't even leave a message." He could imagine her big begging eyes and deep bow at her words to him and a gentle simile grew on his face.

"That's no problem. So what can I help you with or did you just want to talk with me?" Part of him wants to tease her a bit and part of him just want to offer this idea as a legit option for her. His voice was light and playful as he leaned back into his chair.

"No, no, no! I would never dare to waste your time like that. I promise!", she quickly responded either not hearing his teasing tone or not willing to trust it.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't have a problem with that either. You can call whenever you want." He didn't expect her to really get his point, but he hoped that with steady repeating she would someday understand him. "Now why did you call in the first place?", he sheered the conversation back on track.

"It's stupid and I shouldn't have called you at all. It's nothing you can really help me with.", she told him in a dismissing way. But that only got his attention more.

"Amuse me. Maybe I can help you."

"I really don't think so..."

"Come on. You made me curious. Tell me. It's about work, right?", he pressed her for information about her problem.

"Well, yes...", she whispered back. He could hear the embarrassment in her voice and he wondered if she as blushing.

"So please tell."

"Do you even have time for this? It's in the middle of the day.", she tied one last time to distract him.

"If I didn't have time, I wouldn't have called you.", with a chuckle in his voice he continued, "I'm on a location shoot and for at least the next two hours I wouldn't be needed. So I'm all yours. So what is it about? Did you get a new role?" A waitress brought his coffee and gave her a thankful nod. His table was in a secluded area of the cafe's patio and together with a base cap and sunglasses, he had a bit o freedom and privacy.

"Ehm, no. We are on location, too actual. But not for filming, just for a photo shoot, only for today." Finally she answered some of his questions.

"Who are 'we'?"

"Oh, the Box-R girls. It's for a magazine, for promotion."

"Where are you?"

"Zushi."

"The beach?"

"Yes, we have a shoot in- swimwear." Her voice sounded more relaxed and professionally clam. Maybe a bit to relaxed for Ren. At this all expression was whipped off Ren's face and his eyes stared unfocused into the distance.

"Ah..." It was more breathing that talking.

"It's for the May issue, but now at the beginning of April it's really cold." Apparently she didn't noticed, most likely because she was about to talk herself into rage.

"Ah..." He imagined her in front of him siting on the beach, inviting him over to her.

"l have goosebumps all over me." She sounded kind of sulky. The fantasy in his head shivered in the cold and looked pleadingly up to him.

"Ah..." At this point he had to bring his thoughts back to order. _/Now is not the time to think about her breasts. How firm they would look and begging for attention. And how I could feel them pressed against my chest, when I take her in my arms to warm her up./_

"We all wear thick ropes when we aren't in front of the camera." Here she sounded more forgiving. He tried to force some ropes into his imaginary Kyoko as well.

"Ah..."

"But that's not really the problem." Now her fighting spirit returned into her voice. Was this his saving grace to concentrate on something else?

"Ah?"

"No, it's that the shooting has two parts. One in character and Natsu didn't have a problem in running around in that shameless excuse of a swimsuit." Her voice switched between neutral describing and being scandalized. She would be even more scandalized if she knew that with her words not only did any rope for her disappeared from his mind, but it was more than unlikely that any from of outer garments would enter his fantasy again in the near future.

"Ah..."

"It was pretty much only a bikini just with some web-like strings over the stomach." It was obvious that she didn't even realized inappropriate it was to talk about that with a young, straight man.

"Ah..."

"So shameless!" She was all fired up as she claimed this.

"Ah!"

"But that's not the worst part." She sounded a bit more clam again, but not much.

"Ah?"

"No! The second part of the shooting is as ourselves!", she uttered in an offended way.

"Ah..."

"And they want me to wear a bikini!" He wasn't sure what she expected him to do or say. Should he protest against this and tell her that she shouldn't do this shoot or should he clam her down and saying that it was completely normal that now that she is an actress strangers (and some acquienace and friends or mentors) what to see her nearly naked body.

"Ah!"

"How could they expect me to be myself, if I would never wear something so skimpy?" Nobody in this world could blame him for the directions his thoughts were running.

"Ah ha ..."

"Like I said nothing you can really help me with. It's not like you ever had to wear a bikini or something. But-" She was interrupted from a voice in the background. "Kyoko-chan, stop complaining to your boyfriend. It's your turn in the mask!" "He is not my boyfriend!", she screamed after her co-worker, before she turned back to the phone, she sounded embarrassed now, "Oh my God! I'm so sorry, that you had to hear that stupid joke. I have to go now , thank you for listening, I already feel better. Work hard."

His basic linguistic center fought its way back online. "You too. Bye."

After the call ended he sat there for one more minute listening to the disconnected line, before the rest of his brain managed to return to reality. After that he got up and payed. For the rest of the time at the location he associated with the rest of the crew a lot more than usual. He pretty much spend every single moment he wasn't filming with some of the crew members, talking, joking and general interacting. He even went with them to drink a beer or two in the evening. When Yashiro address him about it, he responded with the sentence Yashiro thought about even days later.

"Contrary to what you and the president think I have a social life apart of Kyoko, thank you very much."

End of the flashback

It took him a short while longer to finally figuring out, what Rens strange behaviour was about. Just in that moment his phone ringed to inform him about an incoming e-mail. The short check proofed it contained the pictures from Kyoko's photo shoot, he requested from Sawara. He immediately sent the pictures to Ren with the address line: a little present. With a diabolical grin he went to his office to put the carefully negotiated contact away. Ren just had to sign it tomorrow. As he was about to leave the office his phone rung and the display showed Ren's number.

"Yes?", he answered cautious. Ren didn't necessary have the best track record, when it comes to teasing him about Kyoko.

"Hellooo." An overly cheerful voice greeted him. There was laughter and singing in the background.

"Ren?" Now that was a reaction he didn't expect at all. Yashiro knit his eyebrows at this, Ren normally wasn't so open with it good mood.

"Yessss.", he pulled the word in a strange way to a hiss.

"Are you drunk?" That was the only explanation he could come up with and it worried him a bit, because he never saw Ren drunk, nevertheless in public and he wasn't there to take care of things.

"Nope.", he popped the P at the end. He sounded so much younger than normal and Yashiro could hear a small giggle from the line.

"Yes you are.", he stated, while massaging the bright of his nose.

"Only a tiny bit." Now the actors voice was sulky.

"Where are you? Do I need to pick you up?" It would be difficult to take a company driver and pick the drunken man up. The last thing the manager needed was for the young celebrity to stand outside piss drunk.

"Nooo. I'm in the bus with the rest of the guys." Ren reassured him. In the background a lot of people were cheering. Well, at least he wasn't in public like this.

"Do I need to pick you up somewhere?" Yashiro asked again. While he knew that Ren had become friends with the crew, he would prefer him to be under his own watchful eye.

"Nope. They drop me of home." Once again the popped the P's in the words and seem to habe fun with it. At least he wouldn't have to worry about him meeting any fans in this intoxicated state.

"Is everything alright?" Slowly he felt a headache coming up to him. While he was thankful, that Ren gave him a head start on the drunken situation, he doubt that, that was the reason for the call.

"Yessss, manager-chan. Hihi, chan like as if you are a girl." Ren definitely had to much fun with the Japanese language, because he giggled at his own words again.

"Yes, very funny. Why do you call, Ren?", Yashiro tried to sound patient, even if his real patience started to vanish.

"I wanted, I wanted to tell you that you are the most bestest manager in the world and friend too.", Ren admit to him with an affectionately voice.

"Thank you." This actual took him be surprise, but made him feel strangely warm inside. He knew or at least hoped that Ren saw him as a friend too, but the other man was never very open with his feeling and to hear him say it, made Yashiro feel appreciated.

"No, thank you for the pictures." He heard how some guy demanded to see the pictures. "NOOOOOO. You shall never see them! That's just mine." Ren sounded possessive and a hint treating as he said those words.

"Ok. No problem. Do you need anything else?" All this started to feel surreal and ridiculous the longer this conversation was going on. Yashiro had to suppress a laughter.

"Yes we guys decided to make a band!" The actor announced proudly and was once again answer with a loud cheer from the background.

"No, you don't.", Yashiro relied imminently.

"Yess, we so do." The volume of his voice was swinging and Yashiro deduced that most likely because Ren was nodding profusely.

"No, because when you sing you sound like a tortured crow." It was crucial to know your own strengths and weaknesses in the show business. So Ren had a little singing test two years ago. The least said about it the better. Only this, should the actor, for some unknown reasons, be force to play a role that required him to sing, they were in need of some really talented and patient sound experts with some high quality equipment.

"Ohhhhhh..." It seemed as if this fact slowly reintroduced itself to him.

"That's it? Because in this case I'm now going home. I have the feeling I have some work to do tomorrow." He hoped not to many videos of this bus tour would find their way to youtube or facebook.

"But you said there is nothing planned for tomorrow!", Ren sounded completely shocked and a bit betrayed.

"There is nothing for you tomorrow, but I have the feeling that there maybe is some unplanned for me.", he accursed his charge patiently.

"And you know that today already? Are you psychic? Kyoko sometimes says you are. She is very clever, so maybe she knows it." There was a dreamy tone to his voice as he talked about Kyoko.

"I really have to go now. Have fun, Ren." A huge grin stretched over Yashiros face as the tried to finish the conversation.

"Bye bye." He was cheerfully dismissed.

As soon as he disconnected Yashiro cracked up with a laughter. He was kind of curious what kind of footage would show up on social media in the next couple of days about this bus ride. But right now he should probably call Kyoko that today wasn't the best day to stop at Ren's place. He wasn't sure how well she would react to a drunken love confession from her mentor.

"Yashiro-san, hello." He was on his way out of LME, his phone already in his hand, when Sawara greeted him.

"Ah, Sawara-san how are you?", he replied politely.

"Fine, how were the negotiations this morning?" He had told Sawara about the meeting for that, when he had dropped by to pick up some papers and in that conversation Yashiro had mentioned that he heard about Kyoko's photo shoot and that he was curious how it went and what the results look like.

"Easy, the studio fell over themself to fulfill all of Ren's wishes.", Yashiro joked back.

"That's good." The older man's eyes fell on the phone in his hand. With a conspiratorial gleam in his eyes he whispered, "About to call Mogami-kun?"

"Actual yes. How do you know?" He was a bit stunt about it and felt strangely caught red handed.

"You know, it's quite obvious." Sawara answered with a knowing smile

"It is?" That alarmed Yashiro a bit. He didn't know that Ren's feeling were that obvious to other people around them. He always felt like Ren was hiding them quite well, but if Sawara knew about them who else?

"Yes. Always asking for her schedule, calling her over, offering her rides and now with the pictures." His colleague counted down the hints on his fingers. At least some of those hints were only because he works so close with Kyoko and weren't obvious for everyone.

"Well, once you see it, it is kind of obvious.", Yashiro answered with relief and a hint of embarrassment.

"Don't worry, I'm on your side." The older man winked at him conspiratorially.

"Thank you, I'm sure that will help." Actually that was probably a good thing. There were already plans forming in his head how truly helpful his new ally could be in his matchmaking schemes.

"But of course. I think you will be good for Mogami-kun." Sawara patted his back in a fatherly approving way.

"W...wha...what?" Full stop. What was going on now?

"Maybe you can clam her down a bit." But he talked on, as if he didn't even heard Yashiro.

"Me?" He was completely flabbergasted. How could anybody misunderstood the situation so much?

"Good luck with that. I'm on my way." He said his farewell and turned back to the door. Leaving poor Yashiro standing there with his mouth hanging open, trying to find words.

"B-b-but... it's not- I mean it's for-"

But Sawara was already gone and left the young astonish manager behind. Who completely forgot about the phone call he wanted to make.

* * *

Disclaimer: you know the drill. Nothing is mine and I don't make money here. Please leave a review for me of you like it or if you don't like it, tell me why.

It's planned as a one-shot, but maybe I will one day write a sequel to it, but I'm not sure about that. I had a hard time finding a title, so if one of you knows a better one tell me. And in my head-canon Sawara is the only member in team Yashiro without realizing that there is no team Yashiro.


	2. Chapter 2

_'You would think a grown, mentally able man should be able to do something so simple as to take care of his nutrition, even more so when his body his his work capital. But no, that's obviously asked too much for the best actor Japan's. One day he will kneel over and I will stand next to him and laugh.'_ , thought Kyoko grimly as she turned the corner of his building, while balancing the groceries in her arms. _'If he doesn't improve his eating habits on his own, I'm going to force him to. Ha! I'll check up on him and how often he skips and if he skips meals more than, like three times a week, I'll come over and cook a three no five course meal for him until he learns how to take care for himself.'_ She knew herself, that she must likely would have to guts to order her sempai around like this, not that she had any kind of leverage over him to bully him into accepting such a deal. But at least for today she could make sure that he eats something nutritious. Well but first she had to get into the building. Her heavily packed arms prevent her from ringing the bell as she stood outside of the huge glass entry. Uncomfortable, she tried to shift the bags in her arms to free her hand enough to push that stupid button. Why is that thing so high up? She could use her elbow because while she would probably hit his bell, but those of half his neighbors as well. With her body she tried to press some of her bags against the corner, but she couldn't secure them enough to let go of them. Luckily Kyoko was spared any more fruitless attempts, when a security guard opened the door next to her.

"Good evening, miss. Can I help you?", the guard asked her friendly.

Kyoko shifted her bags back into a more comfortable position and answered him embarrassed, "I have a little problem, my arms are a bit full."

"I see that. Please come in. Can I help you with the bags?"

"Thank you very much, but that wouldn't be necessary." Kyoko nodded to him respectfully when she stepped inside.

He accompanied her to the lift. "Tsuruga-sama's floor, right Miss?"

"Yes, thank you."

He pushed the matching button on the display for her, after she stepped in and went back to his co-worker. The last thing she heard before the doors closed was, how the other security guard questioned the first one. "Really? Tsu-"

"Discretion, that's why we are paid as much as we are."

It took the lift only a short moment to reach Tsuruga's floor. This time she put some of the bags down to ring at his door and then she waited. It took longer than normal. Was he asleep? But it's only six o'clock in the evening. Yashiro told her that, Tsuruga would be home between four and five o'clock. Was he not home yet? Maybe she should have called him first. Should she call him now? She rung once more. A moment later she heard noise from the other side of the door. Loud noise as if something was falling down and, was that cursing? After that it took a bit longer than expected before the door opened. Tsuruga stood before her or better he heavily leaned against the door frame in front of her. His typical grace was missing from his body language. His eyes needed far longer than normal to focus on her, but as soon as they did, his whole face light up.

A huge grin spread over his face as he greeted her euphoric. "Kyoko-chan!"

"Tsuruga-san...", she replied, smelling the alcohol in his breath. "Are you drunk?"

"No.", he profusely shook his head.

"I think, you are.", Kyoko answered deadpan.

He looked at her sulkily before correcting himself in a slurring voice. "Maybe a little tiny bit."

She didn't think long before shaking her head and ordering him inside. "Come on. Let's get in and get you to rest."

She decided against trusting him with one of the bags, as she pushed past him. After she put the groceries into the kitchen, she turned back to him. With straddling steps he walked back to the living room and stood there a bit lost. The door was still open and some of the couch pillows were on the ground. Drunken people were nothing new to her. All her life she had stayed in a restaurant and hotel. Dealing with dunks was a second nature to her. Her back straightened and a patient smile graced her face as she got into landlady mode.

First she closed the door and then directed him to the couch. "Let's sit down for a bit. How does that sound?" He followed her without a complaint.

"You stay here and I will get you a glass of water, Tsuruga-san."

"I don't want any stupid water." He denied, crossing his arms.

"Yes, you do."

"Really?"

"Yes, you will feel a lot better."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"Ok, I want a glass of water, please." He grinned up to her far too happy and satisfied over deciding this.

"I'm on the way. Please wait here."

In the kitchen the young actress filled two glasses and put some of the groceries away, at least those that needed cooling. She took a deep breath and shook her head before heading back to the living room. Ren didn't notice her at first, because he was very concentrated on turning on the TV. After some time he realized that he held the remote in the wrong direction and because of that kept pressing the wrong buttons. When the TV flicked back to life, he grinned proudly and finally noticed Kyoko. "It works! That thing wanted to cheat me. Didn't want to work. But I showed him."

"Remarkable. Here is your water." She pressed the glass into his hand. He took a moment to inspect it suspiciously, before taking a slip.

He didn't seem completely satisfied with the taste. "That's just water!"

"That's what I told you." He pouted at her reply, but didn't comment any further on it.

Instead, he proposed to watch TV together. "Pretty please. I don't like watching alone. You can decide what we watch." He used his puppy-eyes and she never could say no to those.

"Ok.", she may agreed, but her thoughts rallied against him. _'That's unfair! He shouldn't be allowed to use those eyes to freely. He can never know the full power of those eyes. He could make me do everything with them.'_ She shivered at that thought. _'Nope, nope, nope! He can never know!'_ , she swore to herself.

She switched through the channels until she found an interesting detective drama. She recognized some faces in passing, but nobody she really knew. The acting was good and the plot was thrilling. She spellbound stared at the screen, as they slowly solve the murder plot. She was so focused on it, that she didn't notice the soft movements next to her. How the padding of the couch budged. What got her attention was the smell. It was the typical alcoholic smell, mixed with something very masculine and very Ren.

 _'It's not fair. Nobody should smell so good, while drunk. Why can't he smell like any oth-'_ Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she turned her head to Ren and directly met his eyes, very close to her. She was frozen by his close proximity. He was on his hands and knees and lean towards her. He looked at her with nearly childlike amazement.

"Ehh, Tsuruga-san? Everything OK?", she asked wide-eyed.

"Kyoko-chan, you are very, very pretty. Do you know this?" He whispered in the loud way, drunks believe to be quiet. Kyoko was still too shocked to manage any clear thoughts.

"Eh, ehm, no."

He slowly lifted his hand, this caused him to dangerously rock forward. Kyoko stabilized him by grabbing his shoulders. Apparently he didn't even notice, as he gently brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"You are. Really, really pretty."

Mesmerized, she stared at him. She couldn't move, or talk, or even think. He looked at her as if she was the only thing in the world that matters to him.

"So pretty. So beautiful." With those words the look on his face changed slightly. Behind the innocent adoration, the emperor of the night shimmered through. The alarm bells in her head started screaming at her.

"Yashiro-kun sent me an email today with pictures." He leaned in even closer with those words.

"O.K., that's , ehm, good?" She had no idea what he was talking about, or what to do right now. The fast change of topics confused her.

"It said, he would send me a little present." All innocence was rapidly fading from his face.

"That's nice. Presents are nice." Her voice was shaking by then. _'This what a fish has to feel, when he's on the land.'_

"Yes, there are." A absolute sinful smirk stretched over his face. "Are you the present, he sent me?"

"Eh. What?" Her eyes were spinning.

"Does that mean I can unpack you now?" He wasn't waiting for her answer. The hand that had caressed her face before fell down to the hem of her shirt, pushing it up. His thumb was under her shirt sliding over her flat stomach.

She felt completely overwhelmed by this and did the only thing she could think of at this moment.

"Nope! No unpacking today! I'm going and cook us dinner!"

Her, through panic activated, instincts first allowed her to splash her glass of water into his face and then catapulted herself out of his range, half across the room, letting her flee to the kitchen. Her heart raced a mile a minute. This man was too much. Attentively she listened for any sound, but she didn't hear anything apart from the TV. For the first time she realized what kind of situation she got herself into. This wasn't like dealing with a drunken guest in the hotel or restaurant. Here she was alone with a drunken man in his flat, a man far bigger and stronger than her. Normally she knew that the landlord was close by to help. Not that she really thought that Tsuruga would do anything, if she tells him to stop, even if he wasn't sober. But still.

 _'He would never hurt me. He would have said that to any girl back then. Would have done that with every girl. It's just that I was the only one around right now. It has nothing to do with me. He must be thinking about somebody else.'_ , she repeated those mantras in her head again and again, as she began washing the vegetables. While she calmed down, her heart grew heavier. She couldn't explain it. She shook her head to clear her confusing thoughts and put on her apron. It didn't take long for her to relax and imitate herself in her cooking. This was something she knew and felt comfortable with. She was half finished, when she heard steps behind her. A look over her shoulder showed her how Ren stood in the door and looked lost. Water still dripped from his hair.

"Kyoko-chan, are you mad at me?"

"No, of course not.", she answered him without second thought. How could she, if he looked at her like this. His face lighted up at her words.

"Really? Can I help you?"

"NO!", she shouted back immediately. It was least that she didn't want him close, it was more that one) he was actually the worst cook, she know and two) she remembered how afraid she had been the last time he cooked and then he had been sober and had all his motor skills, "Please sit down for a moment. I'm done in a moment." She turned around to pull out a chair for him, but by that time he had already sat down on the floor watching her. "Ok... that's fine, too."

"Kyoko-chan, I'm very happy that you are here."

"Thank you", once more she automatically switched into her landlady persona. "So what did you celebrate today?"

"Last day of filming and we were all together in the bus and somebody had something to drink.", he cheerfully beamed at her.

 _'He looked cute like this.'_ , Kyoko thought. "Really?"

"Yes, and Aiko likes to do this stuff.", he continued with a silly smile.

"Who is Aiko?" He seemed really confused about her question.

"I am.", he replied absolute self-confidently.

"What?", she stared at him irritated.

"I'm Aiko. He is outgoing and likes to party with his friends, when his little brother got in trouble with some shady guys, he has to help him.", he stated.

"Oh, Aiko is your character in the movie you shot." This revelation filled her with excitement, "You drank because of your character."

"A bit. That and because of the photos", he mumbled back.

"What photos?", Kyoko asked absent-minded, as she rumbled through the cupboards. "Where is a mortar?"

"What's a mortar? Why do you need it?" His seriously confused look made clear that he really had no idea what she was talking about.

"How had you even survive this long? How am I supposed to work here?", she talked more to herself than him. Head-shaking, she improvised for the lack of proper tools, that was the reason she didn't hear the sharp intake of breath from the man behind her.

"Mortar, you said?", he said, while playing with his phone. She didn't know what he was doing, but he was happy and busy. From time to time he giggled and cued at the phone. And she could undisturbed finished cooking. At some point it had begun to rain. The drops rhythmically drummed against the windows.

"Tsuruga-san, do you know when the buses are leaving around here?" She hadn't really planned to take the bus, but Ren wasn't really in any condition to drive her home, how he normally would do.

"You can't take the bus!", he replied scandalized, "It's too late and too dark and too rainy! You can stay here."

"But I don't have anything with me. Nothing to change into."

"That's no problem at all, when do you have to work tomorrow?", he asked eagerly.

"Half past two at LME." Of course she knew she shouldn't stay, but she was tried and really didn't want to walk through the rain this late.

"I'll drop you off tomorrow, I promise." He reaffirmed his words with zealously nodding. He once again looked like a little boy.

"I can stay in the guest room?", she asked thoughtfully.

"If you want to...", he was less eager answering this question, but was already playing with his mobile again.

"Can you help me to set the table?" She was already once more focused on the food. It should be finished in a few minutes. Ren jumped immediately up to get the plates.

The dinner itself wasn't very eventual. Mostly because the alcohol caught up with him and with every passing second it was more difficult for him to stay awake. His eyes became smaller and he nodded off more and more.

"I think, it's time to get to bed. Not you think?", she stood next to him and offered him her hand to help him up.

"Wash up?", he mumbled sleepy back.

"We can take care about it tomorrow." She didn't plan to wait till the next day to do the dishes, but if she didn't want to carry Tsuruga to his bedroom, she had to get him there first. It took him a moment to get up, but then he followed her like a little lamb back to his bedroom door. She opened the door to show him the room like a landlady to her guest.

"And here we a-" Once she turned around, she was greeted by the image of her sempai unbuttoning his dress shirt. "Well, you know your room. So, ehm, good night."

"Wait." He grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving.

She stared at him in alarm, as he pulled her with him into the room.

"Tsuruga-san?! Wh-"

He didn't let go of her as he walked past the bed and up to the closet.

"You need something to sleep in.", he proclaimed and pulled a shirt out for her. A relieved smile played on her lips.

"Yes, thank you. Sleep well." Before she could leave, he pulled her into a hug and whispered into her hair.

"Sweet dreams, Kyoko-chan." And released her.

 _'A drunken Tsuruga-san is really strange.',_ she thought later as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

A.N.

I decided to write a bit more about happy drunken Ren. I will probably even write a bit more for the next day, because it would have been a bit long for just one chapter. Kyoko of course immediately recognize that Ren is drunk, she worked in an hotel and restaurant for all her life. She can probably recognize most drinks on their smell and I'm convinced that she knows what alcohol tastes like and be it just for cooking.

What do you think? Reviews are always welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning was eventful for a couple of people. One of them was Yashiro Yukihito. He splattered his coffee from laughing, after finding a, let's say, interesting video of Ren giving an impressive performance of the song 'Barbie girl' in the bus ride from the day before.

'I have to get in contact with the P.R. department. Maybe they should explore Ren's unused comedic talent.', the manager though with a wide grin.

 **X**

Other persons who had an interesting start into the day were the guards from Ren Tsuruga's building. It was only nine o'clock in the morning and the seventh mailman dropped off a packet for Tsuruga. They once more called up to see if they could deliver them up. The older guard hold the receiver to his ear and listened to how it rang and rang. His younger colleague mused about it next to him.

"That's really unusual for Tsuruga-sama, isn't it? I think, in all the time he lives here, he didn't get as many packets. What do you think is inside?" He turned one of the packets in his hands and shook them carefully.

"Stop that." He got reprimanded for it by this foreman. "Still no answer. I'm not sure if the problem with the phone system we had last week, got repaired.", he muttered more to himself than his colleague. "Take the packets upstairs and check if he opens, apparently all of them are express overnight deliveries."

"Maybe we should wait, if any more are on the way..."

"Go. Now."

He took the lift upstairs and stacked all of them in front of the door before be rang the doorbell. After a minute he rang a second time. He was about to take everything back down, when he heard soft footsteps from inside. A moment later the door hesitantly opened. The door chain was still locked and contrary to what he expected, he wasn't greeted by Tsuruga's large frame, but the face of a young girl.

"Yes?" She still sounded sleepy.

"Excuse me, miss. We got some packets for Tsuruga-sama. Would it be possible for him sign them off?" He couldn't see much of the girl, as he asked her, but her short hair was still wild. She worried her lip before answering.

"He is still asleep, but I can try to wake him up. Please wait for a moment."

Before he could reply, she had already closed the door and hurried away. This was strange. He, like all guards, had heard the rumor from the night shift, that Tsuruga had started to bring a girl home from time to time. It was always the same one, so no one night stands, but because she normally arrives with food and later leaves again in the evening, there was a bet going on, if she was his girlfriend or personal maid and chef.

A few minutes later the door opened again, this time completely. In front of him stood the real resident of the flat, only in his pajama pants.

"What's going on here?" The actor's voice was a bit hoarse.

"Good morning Tsuruga-sama. We got those deliveries for you. Apparently those were sent by overnight express." Through small, bloodshot eyes Tsuruga inspected him and the stack of boxes next to him, before he sighed.

"Where do I have to sign?"

"Here please." He offered the receipt. As the tall man signed, the girl, that until now stood behind him, stepped forward to pick up some of the boxes. She was only dressed in a guy's shirt, that nearly reached her knees. It looked like an illfiting dress on her. His eyes widened, when the too big neck was about to fall open as she bent down. But before he could take a glance, a strong arm grabbed her shoulder and straightened her again.

"Thank you. That would be everything." He was dismissed with an icy voice and threading eyes.

"Have a nice day." With that he hurried back to the lift.

 **X**

Ren massaged his temple. His head was killing him. It felt like a little imp sat in his skull and was repeatedly hitting him with an hammer. Kyoko had woke him up a couple of minutes before, to tell him that somebody was at the door. To see Kyoko kneeling on his bed, bent over him to carefully shake him awake, was actual a great start into the day, even if the second thing he noticed was his hangover. He had no idea, what was in those boxes, but he couldn't deny the possibility that he ordered them. His arm was still firmly around Kyoko's shoulders, while he watched the guard leaving.

"I'm sorry, Tsuruga-san.", she apologized softly and looked at him in a timely manner, "It was impudent from me, to try touching your stuff, but I only wanted to get them inside, I swear."

He looked down at her, right into her big pleading eyes. "It wasn't that." But he didn't really want to explain his possessive gesture. "Do I smell breakfast? How about you finish that and I take care of this?"

She beamed up to him. "Ok." Reluctantly, he had to let go of her and watched her disappear into the kitchen, before picking up the packets. He put them next to the couch. What the hell had he done yesterday? It wasn't like he had a blackout, but his memories were a bit mashed up, disconnected snippets. He checked his phone and saw at least one email from Amazon. He freshed up in the bathroom, before he fell on the couch with a pitiful groan. No more alcohol ever again.

A couple of minutes later he heard Kyoko's soft footsteps. She was still in his shirt, carrying a tray with food and a bottle of water. He let his eyes glide over her slim body. His mouth felt dry and his pupils widened slightly.

'Now is not the time to think about stuff like this.', he reprimanded himself sternly. But to him it was the perfect domestic picture.

He wasn't really hungry, to be exactly his stomach rebelled at the thought of food. She set the tray down with delicate care and filled a glass with water to offer it to him.

"Please drink some water first. To get ride off the hangover you have to drink water. I have clear soup for you and some fruits. Knowing you, you're not hungry, but your body is lacking fluids and minerals, that's why you have a headache.", she lectured him.

"How do even know about hangovers?" He only wanted to distract her and himself from the prospect of eating.

"I grew up in a hotel.", she replied as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, "I had to learn how to take care of the guests and of course I know how terrible it feels."

The water, he just drank, went down the wrong pipe and he crouched. "You know, how a hangover feels? How? You are 17!"

Her face was deadpan, when she repeated: "Because I grew up in a hotel. I had my first hangover when I was seven or eight."

"WHAT? Ouch..." His own shouting had caused his head to explode with pain.

"We were small and it was exciting, because it was forbidden. We drank the last drops out of the glasses. There was so much to do that nobody watched us, I think, it was a wedding or something. They drank something sweet and with too much alcohol. We both felt terrible the next day.", she told him calmly, while peeling an orange.

"I'm truly shocked..." He could only stare at her with wide eyes. It felt like the perfect picture of her innocence got tarnished a little bit, but somehow it didn't feel devastating. A warmth spread through him. He felt closer to her by learning such a little thing about her. Who would have thought that about the little girl, that sat to straight and proper in front of him?

"It's not that such a big deal." A fine blush colored her cheeks, as she put the peeled orange on his plate. His head hurt too much to think up any witty response, that's why he followed her silent demand and slowly ate what she had prepared for him. He was surprised how easy it was to eat without his stomach protesting against the food. Against his own expectations, he actually felt better after eating. He saw her eyes flicker to the packets next to him once more. She has done that through the whole meal, but was too polite to ask about them. With a mischievous grin, he threw one of them to her.

"Catch!"

She did, but stared at him in confusion.

"What?", she looked scandalized at that thought.

"Open up!", he told her playfully, at the same time he took another box and examined it, by turning it around and shaking it.

"What's inside?"

"I have no idea. Come on. Open it." He already found the place where he could rip open his. "Apparently I bought those yesterday night and I'm curious what's inside. So please help me. Maybe you could even explain why I got them."

"But..."

"No buts." Carelessly he threw the material out. He only had a small one. He found a pipe, an old-fashioned smoking pipe with some tobacco. He showed her his new trinket. "So, what's in yours?"

Doubtful she looked between him and the packet in her hands, before her curiosity got the best of her and she carefully opens it. She lifted some kind of small stone bowl out of it. Her lips trembled and her eyes widened.

"I'm so sorry, Tsuruga-san! That it's all my fault.", she all but shouted into his face.

"Hush, hush. What are you talking about? What's with the bowl, why would it be your fault?", he tried to soothe her.

"It's not just a bowl. It's a mortar." She fished the matching pestle out of the box, as well. "And yesterday, while cooking, I searched for one and couldn't find it. You must have heard me. That's why you wasted your money on it. I'm really, really sorry. Please forgive me my carelessness.", she pleaded him, bowing down. Through her hectic moving, the too wide neck of his shirt, she was wearing, slipped off and exposed one of her delicate shoulders to him. Any kind of cooking utensils were the last thing on his mind. Nevermind, he tried to clam her down.

"It's ok, Ky- Mogami-san. It's fine, really. You are the only person using my kitchen, so if you need one and I don't have one, I need to get one, ok. Please tell me if you miss anything else in there. When you cook for me, the least I could do, is to make sure you have everything, you need.", he told her with a gentle smile. Her ears and cheeks were colored with a fine blush at his answer and she nodded. "So next one?", he offered with a grin. She bite her lips, before agreeing and accepting another one from him.

He watched her, as she opened the box with nimble fingers, before getting one for himself and absentminded rip it open. Inside his delivery box were clothes. They nicely sat in the big box, with a fine ribbon wrapped around, that had the name of an expensive designer embroidered on. He opened it carefully to inspect the outfit. It was definitely a girl's outfit. Inside were khaki colored cotton trousers, a reddish-pink top with some kind of web-like top in a slightly darker tone over it and a short jeans jacket. Under the clothes were matching accessories like a light scarf, a brown and golden belt and an gold colored bracelet, that looked ring of leafs. And he was pretty sure that the discrete little bag, that was decorated with a rosé colored heart, hide some underwear. He was sure, Kyoko would look lovely in all this, but how could he convince her to accept this from him?

At this time Kyoko had opened hers, too. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She lifted a thick wool coat out of its box. It was a long coat, should he wear it, it would probably reach over his knees, maybe longer. Not that Ren had any interest in wearing it, because it was remarkably ugly. It was brownish-green checked and terribly old-fashioned with the unique ability to make everybody wearing it look like a sack of potatoes. It looked like something an eighty year old British guy would wear.

"Tsuruga-san?", Kyoko asked with caution, "Why did you get this?"

"I have no idea..."

"I'm sure you will look great even in this." She didn't really sounded convincing, but her smile left him with this exciting fluttery feeling in his tummy. It felt natural to sit here, talk to her, joke with her. God, he wants to hold her in his arms. "What's in yours Tsuruga-san?"

"Well, I think, it was to boring too buy stuff only for myself." He avoided her gaze with a sheepish smile and gave her the clothes. Her eyes widened and shock was written all over her face.

"No, I can't accept this." She vehemently shook her head.

"And what should I do with them? I highly doubt that I will ever lose enough weight to fit in them myself and even if I don't these colors would suit me." He hoped, that she forget about the simplest solution of sending them just back.

"Give it to your girlfriend.", she shot back imminently, but worried her lip and looked down in the next second.

"First; I don't have one. Second; how disrespectfully do you think I would treat my theoretical girlfriend? Gifting her with things I clearly bought for another woman?" His voice was demanding while he fixated her with a hard look.

"Sorry... I hadn't thought about it like this. But I can't accept, for a man to buy a girl clothes. It's not right, you said so yourself.", she replied, first taken aback, but the fire returned to her in the end.

"Of course, but this is something different. It's more of a 'thank you' for taking care of me yesterday, not something out of nowhere and you know and trust me better than Kijima-san, right?" The hind of puppy eyes he integrated into his look were her undoing.

"Of course, but you don't have to give me anything." She peeked up to him through her eyelashes with a light blush on her cheeks.

 _'She wants to seduce me, please tell me, she wants to seduce me. Because If not, she really has to learn about the messages she send.'_ He swallowed on his dry mouth before answering. "I want to give it to you. Please, I would feel terrible if I can't repay you in some way for your help."

"You don't have to repay me. I helped you not because I want something from you, but for you being you..." That was an invitation to kiss her, right? He was ready to ask for one, when Kyoko continued. "Are you sure you don't have anyone else to give it to?"

"Ehm", _'can we return to me fantasizing about kissing you?'_ "No, they are for you. Please it would make me happy, if you take them and then you don't have to show up at LME in the same clothes two times in a row."

"Are you sure?" Hesitantly she reached for the clothes, but looked at him questioning.

"Yes, very.", he answered with his true smile playing on his lips.

"Thank you very much." She took the packet and inspected what's inside. "They're so nice.", she breathlessly replied.

"You will look great in it." His prize was the smile that bloomed on her face, just for him. But before this topic could make her uncomfortable, he decided to change it. "Let's open the next once together and the faster one gets the last one, ok?", he challenged her with a wide grin.

"Ok." She shifted the box on her lap to bring it into a good unpacking position, when he counted down.

"Three, two, ONE!" Both ripped and pulled at the tapes that sealed the boxes. One piece stubborn stuck to his hand and each attempt to get rid of it, just made it stuck to the other hand, before he frustrated rules it into a ball. Before he could finally open his packet he heard Kyoko.

"First!" Her eyes shone with excitement and the smile on her face let her glow. Her eyes were fixed on him and not the shoes she held into the air. They were cute ballerinas, which fit great with the clothes he bought her.

"Yes, you won." He wasn't mad about it, if Kyoko was happy so was he. "Let's see what I got here. Oh a magnifying glass." He shook its head in confusion. "Any idea? Me neither. What else? A deerstalker hat! Do you think the check pattern matches the coat?"

He heard a high pitched squeak from Kyoko. "Oh, oh! I know! You are Sherlock Holmes! It all fits!" She looked at him with shining eyes, her voice singing with excitement. "The coat, the hat and the magnifying glass. Even the pipe! Put it on!"

"Are you sure?", he laughed back. She nodded silently. "Okay, here is a deal. We will both change into our new outfits and after that you can open the last one. Deal?"

It took her only a moment before she agreed. "Deal!" She hurried with the box into the guest room, before turning once more in the doorway. "Thank you again."

The door, she disappeared behind, showed expectedly little movements of its own, even after a minute of intensive observation from Ren. With a heavy sigh, he rose from his position and gathered his, apparently detective inspired, purchases and went to his room to change into them.

A few minutes later he looked at the mirror with a critical eye. It really didn't look better than the first impression he had of the outfit, but this was just for Kyoko and him. The color of the hat didn't completely matched up with the coat and let him appear unhealthy. He put the pipe into his mouth. Nope, didn't look better either. Nevertheless, he stepped out again and watched his secret love doing the same. Now, she looked better in her new outfit than he had imagined. She wore it with some kind of lightness, that made her seem like a petite elf.

"What do you think?", she asked him while turning around for him. She was shining with an happy glow.

"Beautiful." His voice was just a breathless whisper, so enchanted was he with her.

She bite her lip as a smile stretched over her face and her cheeks were dusted with light pink. "Yes, the clothes are so nice and they fit perfectly." She ran her eyes over his form before telling him: "You look very smart and mysterious yourself."

"No, I look old-fashioned, but thanks for the compliment.", he replied deadpan, but with jokes twinkling in the eyes. "I think, you have to unpack one last piece from my drunken shopping tour."

They sat down on the sofa and Kyoko grabbed the last packet. "What do you think is inside?", she asked him. Turning and shaking the little box.

"Not the slightest idea." He wasn't that interested in the packet, more in watching her, the excitement that played over her features, the curiosity shining in her eyes. All this made his heart sore with delight and longing. The way she delicately opened the little box with her elegant fingers, made him wonder what the cardboard box did to deserve this care from her. What he would give to be the one to receive her touch and attention. To have her soft fingers trace over his skin. To-

"UWAAAAAAAAAAA!" Ren's pleasant daydream was roughly interrupted by Kyoko's jarring shriek. His nearly forgotten headache was summoned back by it and made him wince. A look towards Kyoko revealed, that she apparently teleported herself away from him, hiding behind the sofa arm and her wide, panic filled eyes switched between him and the little box, that still sat next to him, as if she couldn't decide which one of them was more likely to jump her.

He trained his eyes on the offending object and asked himself what kind of stupid idea his drunken self had that provoked those a reaction from her. Wasn't there some story about Sherlock Holmes and a skull. _'Oh please tell me, I didn't order a human skull.'_ , he pleaded in his mind as he checked his order.

It wasn't a skull.

It was worst.

Oh, what he would give for a skull.

"W-why would you order something like THAT?!" Kyoko has found her voice again and demanded answers from him.

He had none for her. He was speechless and his mind was blank. No, that was a lie, his mind was filled with a lot of words that shouldn't be said out loud, but nothing that he could give her as an explanation. He begged that his brain would decide to start working again soon.

Because even for the most benevolent listener there were extraordinary few excuses. For what possible reason he would need a shower curtain with a life-size print of her in a bikini on it.

"Ah."

* * *

Disclaimer: nothing is mine and I earn nothing with this.

And here is the next morning, I hope you had fun with it.

One other thing, would you have interest in some kind of forum for Skip Beat? I thought about something more for SB-writers here, where we could discuss the current chapters and the characters, but could help each other as well, if we have a problem with our stories.


	4. Chapter 4

"AH!? Is that the only thing you have to say about _that_?" All this was to surreal. Why would Tsuruga-san order something like _that_? It doesn't make any sense to Kyoko and she felt dizzy trying to wrap her mind around this. And the only person that could give her any kind of explanation sat there staring dumbfounded at _that_ and only said Ah? His eyes flicked to her and back to that. His lips were shivering, seemingly forming silent syllables, before answering in a hoarse voice.

"A ... present."

"A _present_? For who?" Her confusion rapidly shifted to anger at that answer.

"For you, of course!" He replied in a heartbeat. A nervous smile darted over his lips. "Who else?" He added with a forced laugh.

"Me?" She stared at him in disbelief. "And why would you want to give me something... why would I want something like _THAT_? For crying out loud!"

His tongue ran over his dry lips before he responded.

"Well, you see, it's like this, because as your mentor, I thought, this," he talked slower and with more breaks between the words than necessary, "would be a good idea, because you have a, ehm, low self-esteem. And that's a problem as an actress, if you would wrongly belief yourself not beautiful or alluring enough for any kind of role. And it's my duty as your mentor to help you to overcome this obstacle. So this is for you to see yourself as others do and see the really good and beautiful features you have, by forcing you to look at it and not hide behind a character of some kind." The longer he talked, the more secured his voice became. "I admit, maybe I should have talked to you about the plan and not just go with it in my drunken set of mind, but it's not a reason to overreact about it."

 **"You didn't actual belief that rubbish, do you?"** , Kanae violently shook her best friend as she retold the events of the morning, that leaded to her being in possession of _that_ special shower curtain. Kyoko has tried to hide it, but the other two LoveMe members had found it by accident and obviously demented an explanation. Kanae continued to shake and scream at her. "Why did you even take _that_ thing?"

"I couldn't really leave it there, could I?" Kyoko relied weakly, while her body limply bounced back and forth in her friends arms.

"Good point." Kanae stopped for a short moment, before continuing with renewed effort. "Why the hell, did he even had the time to come up with this ridiculous rumbling? Why didn't you do the sensible thing and ran out of that apartment screaming like a banshee as soon as you saw _that_?!"

This whole time Chiori had stayed silent and examined the picture with a critical look. "Hmm."

"What 'Hmm'?", Kanae snapped at her.

"I just thought that's a really pretty picture. It shows Kyokos sweet and innocent side in contrast to Natsus cruel and seducing character. But is in an naively alluring way sexy. The photograph did a fantastic job and it's the original unedited picture, you could see some of the goosebumps in this format and the sea in the background is a bit too rough for a magazine picture.", Chiori explained to her colleagues in a thoughtful way.

"Seriously?" Kanae stared at her disbelieving with an open mouth. "That's what you think about? For real?"

"Oh, I just though, that's interesting. I mean, there shouldn't be many people, who could have leaked this picture. I mean, I know that they sometimes leak pictures as a promotion stunt, but that would be the edited pictures. The unedited are normally only seen by the photograph, the managers and the models. Sometimes some of the staff, but they don't get any copies of it. And I mean, my manager only got my pictures, so where did Tsuruga even get that picture to put it on a shower curtain?", she answered with a small smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Considering that you, Kyoko-san, didn't send him the pictures, or did you?" Kyoko shook her head rapidly. "And I'm really not sure if he would be careless enough to ask the photograph and risk some serious rumors, I would like to ask, who is your contact manager for this?"

"Sawara-san."

A couple of floors up, Sawara sat at this desk, when he violently started to shiver all over.

"Everything ok with you?", his colleague asked him with concern in his voice.

"It felt like somebody just walked over my grave..."

* * *

A.N. You ask me for Rens explanation and here is the best I could up with. What do you think of it? Do you have any other idea? And Ren is totally ready to fed Sawara and Yashiro to pink wolves, if means that he would get a tiny bit less blame for it. Please leave a review, what you think about it.


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